The Way Home
by Higher Ground Bee
Summary: I wrote these a long time ao and they've been posted, but I had to convert them to chapters. I'll get around to all the other cliffhangers eventually, but....until then....
1. Scott

Disclaimer: I don't own Scott or Shelby, or Elaine, or Martin.I don't own Higher Ground.HOWEVER the Fox Family Channel DOES own them!!!!!!!

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This is written in a different form.It's kind of like a biography.You can interpret it any way you want.It could be like...a journal entry or something he's writing for a newspaper or a magazine or whatever.I used my imagination to write it, so use your imagination for what he's writing it for.I was going to write one for Juliet and Auggie next..but I like know NOTHING about them except the basics and when I tried to write Juliet's I was strugglin so.......I dunno.I probably won't write one for anybody else b/c I don't understand them......Oh well....here it is....I've had like 10 people email me wanting it and so......Scott must be everybody's fave.PLEASE review...!!!!!!If Scott is your fave you WILL review...right???

**The Way Home**

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**Scott**

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Someone once told me that to be a good writer you have to write what you know.This is what I know.

My whole life I have been running.Running from my life, running from my thoughts, running from my family and friends.Running from myself.

The road to self discovery was a long one for me.Long and rocky and covered with potholes, and sometimes it felt as though I was weathering it alone.

As a small child I had the ideal family.I had a mother and a father, I had happiness.But somewhere down the line something went terribly wrong.My parents divorced and my whole world came crashing down.The only explanation they offered was that they had simply fallen out of love with each other.I didn't understand it then, and looking at my wife now, I still don't understand how you can fall out of love with someone because every time I look in Shelby's eyes I fall in love all over again.

The divorce brought so many changes in to my life.I n longer had one home and one family, but two of each, and my parents traded me off every weekend.That was one of the things I hated the most.Being passed around like that.I didn't care about custody or visitation rights, all I wanted was for things to go back to the way they were before.When things were okay.When _I_ was okay.I knew they wouldn't deep down inside, but there was always that little hope in the pit of my stomach.

Time went on and I grew into a young man.My father had full custody of me, and it seemed as though my mother had dropped off the face of the earth.She didn't answer my letters, and she didn't return my phone calls.Looking back now I understand that she was scared and didn't know exactly how to handle me.But at the same time, when I watch my two baby girls sleep, I just don't understand how she could abandon her own child like that.I couldn't.

I tried to forget about my mother.I had my dad and he was doing the best job with me he knew how to do..

When I started high school at age 14 I tried out for the freshman football team and I actually made it.Instant popularity.I felt accepted and loved and that was so precious to me at that age.That age where you have no idea who you are and where you belong, so you go on a seemingly endless quest to find yourself, and I've learned that some people never finish searching.

My life was beginning to shape itself back together again, very slowly.Eventually I stopped writing my mother.I stopped calling.I knew I was only prolonging the pain.She wanted nothing to do with me, and I was beginning to realize that.

My father took my lead and started dating again.This didn't hurt me so much, because unlike other kids, I knew my mom wasn't coming back.She was gone and I was beginning to accept it.Dad went out with so many women it was ridiculous.It was Sharon one night and Allison the next.Never the same girl until one night when he brought the same girl home for the third time.Her name was Elaine, and she was a 25 year old law student at the local university undergraduate school.

She was young enough to be my sister, and I think all three of us knew it.I didn't say anything though.I has pleased because I had never seen my dad smile so much in years until he found her.

I was 15 years old when my father announced their engagement, and just starting my sophomore year in high school.I was happy for my dad, but there was just something about the way she looked at me that creeped me out.I brushed it off thinking that I still wasn't quite over the fact that my dad was going to be married to someone that wasn't my mom.Especially a someone that was only 10 years older than me.

The nightmare started as soon as they got back from their honeymoon.Elaine would constantly "accidentally" touch me when she walked by, and they way she looked at me was not at all motherly.I stopped swimming in our backyard pool when she was home because she would watch me the whole time, and sometimes when my father wasn't home, she would put on the skimpiest bathing suits and parade around the house in them.

She did look good in them.She had laughing dark eyes, flirty dark hair, and a killer body, but there was nothing but a physical attraction between us in the beginning.Soon I began to like the attention she was giving me and I developed a crush on her.She fed on that crush.She would flirt with me, and me....a 15 year old bad of hormones, flirted back.I didn't know how lethal it could be.

Soon she started treating me differently.The first time she ever kissed me...I mean _really_ kissed me was when I had just failed a midterm.I was so upset about it.She sat me down on the couch and told me that it would all work out okay in the end.Then...she kissed me.And I liked it.I really did and it made me feel so guilty.I didn't want to like it.I really didn't.

That night she came into my room.That was the first time it ever happened, and I liked that too.

It went on for several months, and I saw nothing wrong with it, except for the fact that it would eventually hurt everybody involved.I thought I was falling in love with her, so I decided to break it off before everyone got too attached.

That night when she came to my room I told her no.She wouldn't hear of it, and she wouldn't stop.I explained to her it was wrong and I didn't want to anymore, but she threatened to take away football if I couldn't deliver.I was so torn.I didn't want Elaine anymore, but I was so afraid if I pushed her away that she would take away everything I had worked for.I didn't want to hurt my dad, so I gave in.I let her continue.

Later that year I slipped into a depression.I started using drugs to ease the pain and to help me forget, but soon the effect on me wasn't the same, so I started using stronger drugs.By the end of the term, my grades had dropped so low, I was no longer eligible to play football.The coach regrettably had to let his star player go.The only thing I had to hold onto was now gone.My dad was so disappointed in me, and I guess that's what hurt the most.

From that point on I spent most of my time in large groups simply because of the fact that I was afraid to be alone with myself.Afraid of what I would do.I stayed out partying till all hours of the night with no explanation whatsoever to give my father except that I was out doing 'stuff ' . He was worried about me, I knew, but I didn't care. Everything that I ever had to hold onto was gone.My mother, my football, my dad believing in me, my innocence.

I went on like that for weeks, and one morning I was tacked upon entering my home, cuffed, and taken to a school called Horizon.I was scared there at first, but not as scared as I would have been at home getting high and then waiting for Elaine to come to my room each night.

I had many relationships while I was at Horizon, and I don't regret any of them. Horizon wouldn't be the same without them. _I_ wouldn't be the same without them. But the one I'll never forget, the one I am still living, was with Shelby. She had long, soft, blonde hair and these deep blue eyes you could lose yourself in in an instant. She had a unique personality and she certainly wasn't the type I had dated before. I initially thought my type was the constantly happy, bubbly cheerleader, but Shelby proved me _so_ wrong. You know that person who'll always tell you what you want to hear? _Shelby _is as FAR from that as you can get. She was sarcastic, rude, crass, and not at all afraid to tell you what was on her mind. I would always wonder why I loved her, and now as I watch her sitting in that chair, twirling her hair and reading I know. She wasn't perfect when I met her, and she isn't perfect now, not by a long shot....but she completes me. And that's why I love her. I could tell her anything ad she would still love me, that I know. Whatever it was.....it was true....Shelby was one of a kind. She broke the mold and they scattered the pieces for everyone to trip and hurt themselves on. As funny as that may sound, that's who she was.Who she is.And I love her.

Shelby was the first person I ever told about my stepmother.Eventually, when they came to visit, I couldn't handle it anymore.The truth happened that day.I told my father everything that had went on.He didn't believe me.I didn't expect him to.That didn't matter anymore.What mattered was that when I told him, when I exposed myself..and Elaine....it felt as though the weight of the whole world had been lifted from my shoulders, and for the first time in so long I felt like I could breathe.

I finished my years at Horizon.Shelby was always by my side, and now as we raise our two 1 year old twin daughters, we are still together.

I haven't heard from many ofmy friends since we graduated from Horizon three years ago.I hear through the grapevine that Daisy's in med school, Ezra is a screen play writer, Juliet a fashion designer, Auggie a painter for a local museum, Kat a teacher, and David is in law school.I expect Peter and Sophie are still at Horizon helping even more kids just like I was.

Someday I would like to go back to Horizon.Just to remember all the good times I had there.I think it would be good for me.Horizon helped me find myself.If I could give one line of advice to everyone right now it would be: Find out who you are....and TRY not to be afraid of it.Horizon taught me that._Shelby _taught me that.I found the way home.

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Okay...guys...I know..it was sooo weird.Can I ask a question? Am I the only one who has trouble uploading fics at night?? I usually finish at like 9 and when I try to upload it it says it has to be in html whatever junk even though it is, so I get on the next day, do nothing differently and it uploads.....WHATEVER!!! I'm so confused and FRUSTRATED!! Is anyone having the same trouble uploading at night????? PLEASE REVIEW!!!


	2. Shelby

Disclaimer: I don't own Shelby or Walt or Jess.....so...okay.

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Okay.....I'm not really confident about this story....I was writing it when I was sick...and so it's really weird.....I let a couplemy best friends read it and they really liked it, so they told me to post it.Oh yah...if u hate it, don't review.I've had a depressing week.My friend Ty ...... well he...is really getting on my nerves, so Ty..if ure reading this..sorry I've been weird lately. Oh yah and the next time u get in my locker be prepared to die.Anyway...I have written a story called :The way home: Scott...but the writing style is totally different.If I get maybe 15 reviews on this I'll post Scott's.I need some positive reinforcement before I post another crappy story like this.Thanx. Oh yah..Walt is Shelby's stepdad.I think that's his name anywayz.If not...so sue me.

**The Way Home**

**Shelby**

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_"The past is a guide post, not a hitching post."_

_L. Thomas Holdcroft_

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(It took mea while to understand this quote.A guide post is something that tells u what direction to go and a hitching post is something that you would tie a horse or another animal to......so it means that the past should tell you where to go; not hold you back.Just in case you were wondering like I was, okay?)

Shelby Merrick was tired.Tired mind and body.Tired heart and soul.She was so tired of all the lies.All the secrets.They were eating her up inside and leaving a gaping, empty void.This is NOT where she had pictured herself as a little girl.She had had one dream.She had wanted to be a ballerina, but now that dream was only a memory of something that could've been.Something that WOULD'VE been if Walt had never come into her life and ruined it.

Somehow she still felt responsible for the annihilation of her dreams, even though they had left with her innocence.Walt had taken them forever, and no matter how much she longed and wished for them back they would never _be _back.

Shelby had felt so unclean she couldn't stand herself, and every time that she had looked into the mirror, they feeling that she needed to vomit came on so strong she almost couldn't resist.She didn't understand the things she had done, and she had thought she never would.She didn't want anyone else to understand her if she couldn't even understand herself.

Because of this she had run away.Run away from her problems and run away from Walt.In her heart she knew she would be back.She loved Jess too much to leave her, and Shelby knew Jess would be safe from Walt because she made a promise and they had a deal.But she had been stupid and she had believed him.

He mother had absolutely had it with her.She had run away too many times, and gotten caught doing too many things for her mother to handle at that point in her life.Shelby was sent to Horizon.Leaving behind Walt, the shattered dreams, and the broken promises that her life had consisted of.She hated it there at first, and even though the things she had at home were so sinful, she missed them with everything she was.

Her heart longed to hear familiar sounds like Jess singing in the morning as she got ready for yet another day of inner city school and her mother whistling nameless tunes as she scurried about getting ready for work.And yes, sometimes she even missed the creaking of her door opening late at night.What an awful to miss, but she did.He made her feel special in a way that no one else did, and sometimes, she used to think to herself, if he were to come to Horizon and tell her he loved her she would actually let him do those things.

That was before Scott came and changed her world.He showed her how to trust and taught her how to love again.Not without some work, of course.He wasn't easy to get to in the first place.Either Juliet or his own emotions were always standing in her way.Let's face it.She and Scott were both emotional crash sites, and they were both running scared.Fortunately when they ran, it was into each other.

For a while it seemed Shelby and Scott would live happily ever after.They would put their pasts behind them and they would build a future together on higher ground. (I couldn't resist. sorry)Nothing mattered to them except that they had found each other and they were together and that's how they had wanted it to stay.

Then that horrible day came.And that horrible phone call.Walt had gotten sick, and she was to go home at once to help around the house.They ripped her from her safe haven.From her friends....from her love.

He looked so helpless when she arrived.So innocent.If only her mother knew the things he had done to her.If she only knew the reality of it all.She looked at Walt and felt all the anger that she had almost gotten past come rushing back.She wanted to kill him with her bare hands, but she couldn't. Look at him.So helpless.He had brought her down so far and she had been down so long, all she had left was her revenge.No he had even taken her revenge. ***_Can't I just know why? Why me?_***

Here she was waiting on him hand and foot.The man she had spent most of her life and all her good energy hating.She was responding to his every whim.She REALLY WAS acting like his little girl.She had always hated that name he gave to her and Jess.His _girls_.And he was constantly talking about how good it was to have both his girls back in the house.

She hated how easy it was for him.How easy to pretend nothing was happening, how easy to hurt someone so much.She didn't understand how someone could be so sick.So sick.But she would keep her promise.She would keep it to protect Jess.He could do whatever he liked to Shelby as long as Jess was safe, and she kept it a secret.Of course she had told Scott, but not another soul knew what he knew, and she trusted him to keep it that way.

Jess would come home from school as usual, but something just wasn't right.When Shelby questioned her about it, the truth all came out.The horrible, impossible, disgusting truth.Jess too.He had lied and he had broken yet another promise.Right then something inside of Shelby snapped.He last rational thought flew right out the window.Two could play at this game.He had broken his promise to leave Jess alone.She had to do something. This was her little sister.How dare he?He had gone too far.She picked up the phone, and called the police and in one incredibly relieving moment, her struggle within was over.

"No more hate.No more anger.Just some justice." She said as they pushed him into the back of the police cruiser.Her family stood outside and watched as the horror that had filled their lives for so many years was taken and locked away.They listened as the sound of sirens grew fainter, and so did the memories of so many nights that she listened for the sound of that creaking door and waited for the pain of having someone she thought she loved do nothing but hurt her.She put an arm around her sister and tried to wipe away all those memories, but she wouldn't.And she knew she wouldn't.They were a part of her, a part of who she had become.They were her past, but they were NOT her future.

She hadgone back to Horizon to finish what she had started.Finding herself.And finding Scott.

Now as she lay here in her husband's arms watching her children play in the yard, she knew what her purpose in life was.She would take all those painful memories, all the hurt, and all the hate, and she would be better than them.All her life she heard what she was capable of, now she was proving it.She had taken up dancing again and was making a successful career.She had looked into Scott's eyes when she had gotten back to Horizon, and she had seen her future. Though she would never admit it to anyone, it was then that she knew she was going to marry him.

She acted upon her dreams and she was living the life she had always wanted.Sometimes she wondered if she was a good mother to her two girls, but then she remembered her own mother....who had known all along about what her stepfather was doing.....and knew she was doing alright.Her girls had everything they needed and most of what they wanted, but most of all, they had love.They were smothered with love.In a way Shelby was making up for lost time.Any way you put it, she ad dreamed her future and then she had built her future.She knew someday her daughters would ask about grandma and grandpa, and she would tell them in time.There would be no secrets in their family.Scott and Shelby had agreed on that.Secrets were lethal, and yes, her girls would know every detail of mommy and daddy's pasts.

They would know about every battle in the war they had fought.The war she had fought for so long.She never really thought of it as war, but that's exactly what it was.War with her family, war with Walt, war with herself.She had been fighting it for years.She had even considered going beck to that inner city house and having it out with her stepfather, but she had stopped herself ***_ No.It's time to sign the peace treaty._** * she thought***_Time to stop the pain_** *

The fierce sun relaxed around her as she snuggled closer to Scott.It turned soft and golden and it warmed her shoulders, her face, her heart.She had a thousand questions, but there weren't a thousand answers.There's only one.You do have to keep being the good guy.She used the truth to set her free that night she had him arrested, and she may not have found a way to erase all the hurt he had caused in her life, but she had found her family that night, she had found the right thing to do.She had found her way home.

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Did that totally suck? Probably.I dunno...I wrote some while I was sick and some in science to keep me from falling asleep to Coach Haws droning on about the force of gravity on an object that has an MA of blah blah blahblah, BLAH!**__**


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